Terra Called ‘House of Cards’ by SEC at Start of Fraud Trial (1)

Terraform Labs Pte. began trial Monday over civil fraud claims tied to the 2022 implosion of its TerraUSD stablecoin, while co-founder Do Kwon remains in Montenegro waiting to learn whether he’ll be extradited to the US or South Korea to face criminal charges.

“Terra was a fraud, a house of cards,” a lawyer for the US Securities and Exchange Commission told jurors in Manhattan federal court. “And when it collapsed, investors lost nearly everything.”

The jury is considering SEC fraud allegations tied to the collapse, which wiped out $40 billion in investor assets, shook the crypto world and contributed to ...